2015

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I finally managed to see the first episode of SyFy Channel’s ‘Killjoys’. Wow. Bounty hunters in space, check. All major characters seem to have deep backstories, check. Writers not afraid to dole out explanations in context, check. Fight scenes! Gritty realistic future with highly contrasted settings! Great props and costuming! The promise of a big,…

Read More Killjoys
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Sir Christopher Lee’s title for his autobiography. One of the most skilled, competent, badass character actors to ever grace stage or set. We in the US tend to think of him as a villain in Star Wars or the recent Tolkien movies, but he was so much more. He passed a few days ago, but…

Read More Tall Dark and Gruesome…
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“I think the rules are crumbling and I think the barriers are breaking.”  – Neil Gaiman “Good.” – me In the New Statesman, Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro share a fascinating discussion about the past, present, and possible future of speculative fiction. I find it a wistful, slightly cynical, but ultimately hopeful field trip shepherded by…

Read More Machines cannot imagine
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Yesterday, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage via an overwhelming popular vote. Yup, Ireland. The same country that only decriminalized homosexuality in the early 90s, and saw its staunch traditional Catholicism reel from recent waves of child sex-abuse scandals among clergy and affiliated lay groups. Where the infamous ‘Magdalene…

Read More Ireland did it. The Millennials helped.
by 3 comments on "Context reading in Adult SF&F"

…or, ‘I Am Not Five, and I Don’t Read Like This:’ I’ve recently followed some online critiques of other people’s science fiction and fantasy works-in-progress. I noticed a common factor: some readers’ inability or unwillingness to deduce words from context. One example: a friend’s Norse-flavored take on the Tam Lyn folktale held seven or eight…

Read More Context reading in Adult SF&F
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Back in 1998-1999, I needed another last-minute entry for the Beadwork Magazine/Interweave Press miniature beadwork exhibition ‘Up:Close’. I made this piece in three days: ‘Mom’s Mutant Cactus’. Dimensions: 3″ x 3″ x 3″. It’s a mutant because it doesn’t precisely mirror an existing cactus species, and because it has a blue flower. Until we get…

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Aside 2 comments on "Content writing for blogs"

A handy tip on writing for your blog: do most of it yourself or don’t do it at all.

Sure, cultivate guest blog trades for relevant and relatable posts. It’s fun and lets you network with peers. But your blog should be about your voice and vision, not someone else’s. Especially not someone you’ve hired to scrape and repackage web topics. Otherwise you’re not blogging, you’re just a spamming spammer who spams. 

If you can’t write well enough for publication, take some classes or use free online English-as-a-second-language resources until you can. 

Especially if your blog is your business contact and showcase.

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C’mon, you gotta know this one. It went from pun to meme to geek celebration? May the Fourth be with you. It’s a bittersweet holiday for me. ‘Star Wars’ was my Sf&F call to action back in ’77. It galvanized my attention like Tolkien had a few years before: big settings, classic stories slightly retold,…

Read More Happy Star Wars Day
by 1 comment on "Intergalactic Medicine Show: free fiction"

I’ve witnessed some extraordinary discussions over the past month, as the Hugo Awards controversy continues in the science-fiction and fantasy community. Eventually, I’ll provide links (cribbed and cited from a couple of diligent AW sources) to the best explanations of what happened and why. Part of the fallout? Free stories listed online by authors, editors,…

Read More Intergalactic Medicine Show: free fiction
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…is adding a kickass prologue that brings the fantasy novel up past 85,000 words, which is the minimum that several great Big Five publishers want to see. Once I finish minor tweaking to answer comments from four beta readers, I should see a book around 87K. More to the point, it’s a good book. I’m…

Read More More happiness
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Especially in America, there is immense corporate pressure to have a college degree – as a meal-ticket to a better job and future, not necessarily as a proof of one’s intellectual skills. When the fact of having the degree is more important than the process of earning the degree, the stage is set for fraud…

Read More Thesis mills